High resolution projected digital images are produced by projecting in quick succession slightly different and slightly displaced low resolution images which are digitally derived from an image having several times more pixels than any single image the projector can project. The result is that the viewer perceives a single image with substantially higher resolution.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A display system, comprising: an optical system configured to project an image, where the image is formed using a plurality of pixels organized in lines to form a raster; an opto-mechanical system configured to continuously shift the direction of projection of the projected image, thus forcing each pixel of said image to circulate on a closed path; a pre-processor configured to generate a sequence of at least three projected images from a higher resolution image-file; wherein the pre-processor is configured to generate the individual pixels of the sequence of at least three projected images based on the anticipated location of the projected image at the time the individual pixel is refreshed; wherein the pre-processor is configured to progressively update the projected image, line after line, by refreshing the pixels in synchronism with the opto-mechanical system; wherein the optical system is configured to project a pixel throughout a refresh cycle until the pixel is refreshed using the corresponding pixel from the next image in the sequence of at least three projected images; and wherein the opto-mechanical system is configured so that the projected low resolution image occupies a new location each time a line of pixels refreshed by the pre-processor.
2. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the opto-mechanical system circulates the projected low resolution image pixels over a substantially circular path.
3. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the pre-processor sequentially refreshes the lines of pixels in a first of the generated low resolution images with the corresponding lines of pixels from a second of the generated low resolution images such that a period of time exists in which groups of pixels from the first low resolution image and groups of pixels from the second low resolution image are simultaneously projected by the optical system.
4. The display system of claim 3 , wherein the pre-processor is configured to generate the pixels for the second low resolution image, which are used to refresh the group of pixels from the first low resolution image, by averaging the pixels falling within the area of the high resolution image that corresponds to the refreshed pixels of the projected low resolution image, when the low resolution image is projected in its then-current location.
5. The display system of claim 3 , wherein the opto-mechanical system is configured to shift continuously the location of the projected low resolution image in synchronism with the process of replacing groups of pixels from the first image with groups of pixels from the second image.
6. The display system of claim 5 , wherein the opto-mechanical system is configured to shift the location of the projected low resolution image in a way that ensures that the pixels of the projected low resolution image completely traverse the closed path in the time required to completely refresh the pixels of the projected low resolution image a number of times equal to the number of low resolution images generated by the pre-processor from the high resolution image.
7. A method for projecting an image, comprising: generating a sequence of at least three low resolution images from a single high resolution image, where individual pixels in the sequence of at least three projected images are generated based on the anticipated location of the projected image at the time the individual pixel is refreshed; projecting a first low resolution image; progressively refreshing, line by line, the pixels in the projected image with pixels from a successive low resolution image; and projecting the progressively refreshed low resolution image, which includes the unrefreshed pixels from the first low resolution image and the refreshed pixels from the successive low resolution image, in locations that progressively change during the refresh cycle making each pixel of the low resolution image follow a closed path as the sequence of images is projected.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the characteristics of the pixels from the second low resolution image, that are used to refresh the group of pixels from the first low resolution image, are determined at any one time by averaging the pixels that fall within an area in the high resolution image which corresponds to the area where pixels of the second low resolution image are projected at the time.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein averaging of pixels from the high resolution image is time dependent and comprises: determining the area of the high resolution image corresponding to one of the refreshed low resolution pixels, when the pixel is projected in its time-dependent location; identifying the high resolution pixels that fall within the determined area; weighting the characteristics of each of the identified pixels according to the proportion of the area of each of the identified high resolution pixels that falls within the determined area; and averaging the weighted characteristics of the identified high resolution pixels.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 26, 2000
December 2, 2003
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